It's all well and good being anti choice and not so benignly neglectful of LGBT issues when you're a Democratic politician in Southwestern PA, but take a campaign statewide and you're going to need to, say, broaden your horizons -- especially if you're running in a Democratic primary against real progressive Joe Hoeffel and pro choice Anthony Hardy Williams.
Onorato vs. Wagner is pretty much a wash on social issues, but Dan faces two more liberal candidates from the East so he's dancing as fast as he can and leading ever more to the left and ever more Big D Democratic (notice how his ad tag line is "The Democrat for Governor").
Dan's pretty much an unknown quantity in the rest of the state so he's taking advantage of the chance to reinvent himself.
Even here in the Burgh, Dan has gone all gay friendly (having a gay advisor donate a sound system for an LGBT group's endorsement meeting and helping to pack the vote, etc.), but now the abortion issue is coming back to bite Danny Boy on the ass.
As Chris Potter notes here, Dan was invited to the Americans for Christian Traditions in our Nation (ACTION) forum as a "pro life" candidate. Originally Onorato was sending a representative, but after Joe Hoeffel called him out on it, suddenly any participation by the Onorato campaign disappeared down the rabbit hole. (Nice going, Joe!)
By May, we expect Dan to be flashing peace signs and sporting a MoveOn button, then of course, a hard swing to the mighty right if he wins the primary.
PA politics right on schedule...
